The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-10-29
THE STORY TELLER.
Peculiarities of an Individual Personally
Known to Every Reader.

Known to Every Reader.
Yarnly was a raconteur; story tel
Ter, as we say in English, or liar, as
the precisian would put it He was as
full of stories as an egg was full OF
meat. No man ever encountered
Yarnly without receiving samples of
Yarnly's stock-in-trade, and no man
ever parted from him without mentally
promising himself that voluntarily, he
would never meet Warmly again.
Yarnly was pleasant fellow, very
pleasant fellow, l don't remember
ever to have seen him out of temper.
And yet it was fearful strain on ones
good nature to meet Yarnly. and
many time / have gone miles out OF
my way to escape him.
Ordinarily. however, Yarnly wasn't
so bad. He was bound to tell You a
story or two That was matter Of
course. and one always braced himself
to pass through the ordeal as manfully
as possible. 1t was when somebody
had been so foolish as to venture upon
tho telling of story in Yarnly's pres
ence that Yarnly came out strong.
Hardly had the misguided person fin
ished his tale ere Yarnly began to un-
load. 1t was interesting, it was pa
| thetic, to note the gradations oil
despair which settled upon the unfor-
tunate man who had set Yarnly ago.
ing. He would laugh good-naturedly
at Yarnly's opening story; the nex'
would evoke an idiotic, CHASTITY smile
this would be followed, after the inflic
ton Of number three by look Of pain
full WEAKNESS, and the victim woult
pass rapidly from dependency to ex
IRENE vexation and utter despair, hi
face outrivaling in acute anguish an(
undying hatred the visages of the los
in Dante's Inferno.
But Yarnly, nothing daunted, woul'
keep on, story following story in un
ending succession, stories supposed Il
be new and stories Enthusiastically oil
until the poor wretch who had beef
forced to listen. sought refuge from hi
tormentor in cowardly fight.
| hated this storytelling habit o
Yarnly's, hated 1t with all the venom
that was in me; and yet l pitied him
| pitied HIM because of his inability I
enjoy another's relations. Let tn
story be ever so entertaining; no mat
ter II il was fresh from the mint of tn
REALTORS vivid imagination, Yarnl
would show no interest in it whatever
| He would listen, to be sure, but onl
to hear the pause which warned hir
that his own opportunity had come
for Yarnly could hear a pause as we
as the Irishman of the authentic narrs
tive. 1t was all that Yarnly could hea
, | or cared to hear while another wa
speaking. But when the others voic
, ceased, he opened his ears as he opene
, his mouth; he was unwilling to lose
syllable of one of his own stories. II
, | affection grew with repetition, and
q | was a pleasure to witness the ligl
, | which irradiated Yarnly's features A.;
. he delivered himself of one of his Of
= told tales.
/. And then Yarnly was so easily +
a minded. Let the occasion be what
a would; utter in his presence the mo-
| serious remark or the most common
. place, and instantly and inevitably WI
q be reminded of what he was pleased
b denominate "a good thing" and Il
4 "good thing you had to take will
Il nilly, and half dozen more "goc
1 things" to keep it company.
|. 1t got so in time that ! could readi
n pick out Yarnly's victims from Il
h crowd of passers-by in the street, or
o gathering of the people. When ! sa
:; man with woe-begone expression
n his face, and decentralization figured
n his form and expressed in his gait, ri
d especially when saw one with II
d tuttonhole of his coat frayed and di
q tended, then did l know him for
8 Yarnly sufferer
n When Yarnly died, so am told,
q friend was telling him a little stor
= As usual. Yarnly was eagerly awaitii
!. its conclusion, in order to take up u
a ball and reel off few of his own tale
|. but just as his friend ceased to spea
"a Yarnley ceased to breathe. 1t W
!. probably the most dreadful death tn
?. ever befell mankind.
5. If Yarnly's spirit has winged
'. flight TO the realms Of the blest, he c.
o never be happy there if the memory
n his disappointment in his dying no
+ still haunts him, and if he has gone
"a another direction, nothing that
II shall there experience can possit
n compare in bitterness to the pa
" which the memory of that lost opp'
d tunity must forever keep fresh in
,.ov+,,,bo1 Wind Roofn,, Tram ecy.i11f